The Supreme Court of Brazil granted former President Jair Bolsonaro temporary house arrest on Tuesday. Bolsonaro, who has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for leading a coup plot, is currently hospitalized for a bacterial pneumonia. Judge Alexandre de Moraes, presiding over the case at the Supreme Federal Court (STF), partially granted the appeal filed by Bolsonaro's lawyers and supported, in part, the opinion of the Attorney General's Office, which on Monday expressed its support for house arrest, arguing that the former leader requires constant care that his family can provide better than the prison system.
However, this measure is temporary and conditional. According to reports from EFE, Bolsonaro will be able to serve his sentence at his home for 90 days, starting from the date he is discharged from the hospital, a date that has not yet been determined. After this period, Moraes will re-evaluate the conditions under which the former leader must continue serving his sentence.
This decision represents a significant shift in a process marked by repeated rejections. Since Bolsonaro entered prison in November 2025, his lawyers have filed multiple requests for house arrest on humanitarian grounds, all of which were denied. The court itself rejected one of these requests on March 5th, with a unanimous vote from the First Chamber. On that occasion, Moraes cited a previous attempt...
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FILE PHOTO: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gestures, accompanied by his son Jair Renan Bolsonaro, after arriving at his home from a hospital in Brasilia, Brazil. September 14, 2025.
REUTERS/Diego Herculano/Archive. The Brazilian Supreme Court on Tuesday granted former President Jair Bolsonaro temporary house arrest, pending a 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt. He is currently hospitalized for bacterial pneumonia. Judge Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur for the case before the Supreme Federal Court (STF), partially granted the appeal filed by Bolsonaro's lawyers and supported the position of the Attorney General's Office, which on Monday expressed its support for house arrest, arguing that the former leader needs constant care that his family can provide better than the prison system. However, this measure is temporary and conditional. According to EFE, Bolsonaro will be able to serve his sentence at his home for 90 days from the date he is discharged from the hospital, a date that has not yet been determined. After that period, Moraes will reassess the conditions under which the former leader must continue serving his sentence. This decision represents a significant shift in a process marked by systematic rejections. Since Bolsonaro entered prison in November 2025, his lawyers have filed multiple requests for house arrest for humanitarian reasons, all of which were denied. The court itself rejected one of them on March 5, with a unanimous vote from the First Chamber. On that occasion, Moraes cited a previous attempt to manipulate the electronic ankle monitor that the former president was supposed to wear, an incident that the judge described as a blatant attempt to escape. What changed this time was the intervention of the Attorney General, Paulo Gonet, who sent a report to the STF on Monday supporting house arrest for humanitarian reasons due to health concerns. The Attorney General's Office argued that there is a need to ensure permanent medical monitoring of the former leader, who is exposed to sudden and unpredictable changes that require continuous care. It was Moraes himself who had requested this report before making a decision. Archive photo of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023).
EFE/Andre Borges.
Bolsonaro, 71, has been hospitalized since March 13 at the private DF Star hospital in Brasilia. He was urgently transferred from the Papuda prison and diagnosed with bronchopneumonia. According to AFP, the former president left the intensive care unit on Monday, but there is still no estimated date for his discharge. His health problems date back to the knife attack he suffered in September 2018 during a campaign rally in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. The abdominal wound left permanent digestive sequelae, leading to recurrent episodes of hiccups, dizziness, and vomiting, which have worsened significantly in recent months. According to his medical team, this chronic condition triggered the current aspiration pneumonia. The STF sentenced Bolsonaro on September 11, 2025, to 27 years and three months in prison for five crimes against democracy, including an attempted coup and leadership of an armed criminal organization. According to the court, the plan included the assassination of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Judge Moraes himself. Bolsonaro has consistently denied any wrongdoing. The hospitalization and the decision on Tuesday occur at a time of high political tension, with the 2026 electoral cycle already open in Brazil. With the judicial process concluded and no possibility of further appeals, the only alternative that Bolsonaro's supporters are pursuing is the approval in Congress of an amnesty law for those convicted of the events of January 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro's supporters broke into and caused serious damage to the Congress, the presidential palace, and the STF itself in Brasilia. This initiative is still under parliamentary debate without a scheduled vote, while the far-right leader awaits in a hospital the start of a countdown that the court has set at ninety days.